Early – Mid June, 2024 – Blue Mountains NP, Great Barrier Reef, Australia

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Katoomba and Blue Mountains National Park

The Blue Mountains showed up on one of my searches of Sydney.  It is roughly 63 miles ENE of Sydney.  Since we are not renting a vehicle this trip, we are using one of Sydney’s trains to transport us there.  We are traveling light, fitting only the necessary items into our backpacks, leaving the heavy stuff behind at our hotel.  We walk three blocks to a subway station that takes us to the central train station.  From there we board a longer distance train, transferring to the train that takes us to the town of Katoomba, our chosen destination to see the Blue Mountains.

Early June, 2024 – Trip Preparation; Sydney, Australia

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Background

Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House

Since December of 2022 we have been considering hiking to basecamp of Mount Everest, not the peak, basecamp.  Basecamp in itself is quite a trek.  But digging into it more and more we decided to put that trip on hold, possibly indefinitely.  About that time Gary Hart, landscape photographer from CA, announced his new photography workshops for 2024.  Among them is ‘2024 New Zealand Winter’, a 10-day workshop on New Zealand’s South Island.  Usually when I see the listing it is already filled, with a waiting list.  Not this time.  Nicida and I talk it over, then decide to send off a check for the deposit.  We are in.